I know I wasn't going to take another train, but this was supposed to be empty and only an hour and a half.
It wasn't empty.
But at least it was an hour and a half. We stood the whole way. At first we were on the wrong side of the train. Not such nice views and sun coming in. Then someone offered for me to take his spot on the other side which was shady and ocean views.
When we got off at Bentota, some guy asked where we were going. We told him a river cruise and he told us to follow him, that we could walk (good thing, we'd been told we would need to take a tuk tuk).
We passed a few on the way so it was clear he was taking us to someone he knows. We agreed on a price of 5000 rupees and set out. We started on a big river, and drove along the side to see a water monitor. Then we went into the lagoon, or mangrove forest, where we saw a baby crocodile!
Sleeping goanna
That's a monkey!
There was also a tree full of bats, water monitors sleeping in trees (they told us that water monitors' skin is poisonous to touch, and that it kills its prey with its tail), black monkeys (apparently Sri Lanka has 3 types of monkeys, black, white, and brown -the brown are the mean ones that steal your stuff), a green snake (it looked like the one I almost stepped on and turns out its poisonous), and pelicans in the top of a tree. From there they took us to a spice/ herb garden where a doctor showed us around and explained and demonstrated how different herbs and spices can be used.
He put a natural hair removal cream made from wild potatoes that made a bald spot on my arm and Meir's leg. He told us about cinnamon and cacao and cardamon and black pepper and more. Then of course he brought us to a shop but we decided not to buy. Meir asked why he doesn't sell the hair removal internationally and he said because they don't have enough of the wild potatoes and plus they make it by hand so they can't produce that much.
Then we went on and they brought us to a gem store to see how they make gems (apparently a huge industry here). We left quickly since we didn't want to be pressured to leave a tip and knew we wouldn't buy.
On our way back our guide told us about a place with turtles so we said we were interested in going. What we didn't understand was that meant going back to land and taking a tuk tuk, and then it was a turtle protection and rehabilitation center. Despite not understanding what we were going to, we loved it. It turns out they buy turtle eggs from fishermen and bury them. Once they hatch, they keep the babies for a few days in a covered tank so the birds don't get them and then let people come and release them. If we'd come in the evening we would have been able to do that. Instead we got to hold them, so no complaints.
Apparently there are 6 types of turtles in Sri Lanka, the green turtle being most common. They have all the types in the center, as students come there to research the turtles. They have a bunch who are healing after being caught in nets and rescued. They also have an albino turtle! It was definitely worth the stop.
From there to continue to Galle we had to stand outside to get a bus. We weren't 100% sure where to get it and then buses kept going by without stopping and the ones that did stop weren't going where we needed. I was so hot so I hid in the shade and told Meir we had 5 minutes to find a bus or we were taking a tuk tuk. Of course as soon as I said that the right bus came. We finally had seats!
We got to Galle starving and went into the city to find food. We saw a sign for a restaurant and went in and it was 100% locals. There was no AC, just fans, and we didn't know what half the stuff on the menu was but we ordered and it was delicious! We got Fried rice and kotthu. So good.
Then we continued on to the fort. It wasn't quite what we expected but it was cute. We walked along the perimeter a while and on the walls. We saw a goanna near a crow and Meir was convinced it was going to kill the crow with his tail so we watched a while but it was clear the goanna was more interested in something in the ground.
When we continued it got more crowded and we found where everyone hangs out. There were kids playing and learning cricket, we even found a small beach and stuck our feet in the very comfortable waters!
We wandered through the town a bit and stopped for AC in a shop. I also really wanted a mango juice so we got, but we learned that mango juice when it's not mango season is a bad idea. It wasn't very good so the woman who made it added lime juice for a bit of flavor.
Around sunset we headed back to the entrance and saw a cricket game going on. Then we had to find the express bus to take back. It wasn't so easy, the ones that said the place we were supposed to go (just outside Colombo) were closed, and someone directed us to one that said a different place. Turns out it was the correct bus in the end thankfully.
We learned that there are highways! It took less than 2 hours in the express air conditioned bus to get back.
When we got to the end of the line, we weren't positive where to go, but we saw people getting on a bus that turned out it was headed to Colombo City. We jumped on and hoped to get off somewhere close to where we were staying. Luckily Maria, the woman we were staying with, had told us about an offline map called Map me, so you can track where you are without data. We used it to figure out where to get off the bus.
We got off near the chabad, and decided to go find it to make sure we'd know where it was for the next night. It was easy to find thankfully, and then we found a restaurant nearby for dinner.
I finally got hoppers! Only problem was once it was in front of us we weren't sure how we're supposed to eat them but they were delicious even if we did it incorrectly. Meir also got a really sweet cookie shake which was good for a pre pesach meal.
Back at the apartment we semi planned out the next day and I hid pieces of cracker around our room for bdikat chametz (which took Meir a while to find and it didn't help that I forgot where two were).
And that's that for this day!
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